In brewing operations, bungs, either wooden or plastic, must be removed from the bung hold in the keg prior to washing the keg and refilling with beer. In the past, bungs have been removed by a machine such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,650. In the bung removing machine as described in the aforementioned patent, the keg is supported on a roller cradle and rotated to position the bung downwardly. An auger is then moved upwardly to penetrate and remove the bung from the keg.
More recently, multi-station bung removing machines have been used, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,332. In the apparatus of that patent, a walking beam moves the keg sequentially between a series of stations. Initially the walking beam moves the keg from a receiving station to an orienting station where the keg is rotated about its axis to position the bung downwardly. After orienting, the keg is then moved to a debunging station where an auger penetrates and removes the bung. Following removal of the bung the keg is transferred to a probe or sensing station where the presence of an improperly removed bung is sensed, and the keg is then transferred to a reject station where kegs having improperly removed bungs are rejected from the line. Kegs with properly removed bungs are delivered to a discharge conveyor for subsequent washing and filling.